Transport is arranged Part 3 - Hamburg

Wednesday and Thursday - Hamburg

I need to write faster - I am already forgetting things! Two things help jog my memory - James checked into every place we visited on Swarm, and I take photos of literally everything. So with Google Photos & Swarm open, I am ready to go!

Because we messed up the trip from Brussels, we arrived in Hamburg later than anticipated, so we quickly showered, changed and headed out to explore. Our hotel was in Sternschanze, a district which has a youthful, hipster-ish vibe - lots of bohemian looking apartments, cocktail bars, brunch spots and artful graffiti. We had some drinks sat outside Cafe Kostbar and ate some burgers at a place called Nosh. It was great, relaxed and friendly and when we left the waitress said "are you English? I'm confused, English people never tip!"      

The following day we had the luxury of not having to pack and leave, so we got up (not too early obviously) and decided to start the day by finding some food and going on a U Boat. 

We walked quite a way down to the Fishmarkt near where they U-Boat Museum was stationed (is it still stationed if it's decomissioned? Don't write in). On the way I was taking photos and a woman stopped to ask if I was from the council, and had I come about the leaves. 

Near the Fishmarkt we happened upon a restaurant called Eir Carl which had some great traditional dishes.We had well missed breakfast by this point so went all in on the Schnitzel & it was amazing, I couldn't resist trying the Egg Liquers either (copying the table who had just left) and had a flight of different flavoured ones - this all definitely set us up for the day.

The U-boat Museum is definitely not one for claustrophobes. It is amazing how much of the inner workings are open, and how compact everything is. It didn't take long to walk through but was definitely worth doing. The website is also pretty good - talking about the history of this Russian Submarine and how it came to be a museum in Hamburg, and has a webcam so you can have a look at it if you want to. 

We then set off in the general direction of where all the other stuff was on the map, resolving to follow our noses and stop and look at whatever piqued our interest on the way. There was a lot to look at in St Pauli - leafy and overgrown with a lot more run-down looking houses, overgrown shrubbery and doors to apartment blocks like this one which had a sign on that said, "No Dealing, No Phonecalls, No Cops" - it was vibrant and lot of signs of community like allotments and communal gardens.

We kept on walking and covered a lot of ground - finding ourselves on the edges of the city centre and working our way in. We happened across St. Michaelis church, which has an impressive spire and a bronze statue of St Michael smiting the Devil above the door. We stopped for a coffee and admired it for a bit, then walked around it to find a statue of Martin Luther tucked around the corner. 

As we headed into the city we passed streets of peep shows, sex shops and massage parlours which definitely had a seedy feel as opposed to anything cool or edgy. Nothing was open when we walked past but would have been interested to see how it all came to life and if it's a tourist or local scene.

Oh, also on this bit of our walk I saw a red squirrel - it ran across our path and then into a cool-box that was at the back of a newspaper stand, presumably trying to hide from us. It then darted across the pavement and up a tree. I haven't seen a red squirrel for years and it felt incongruous to see one in a city!

It was about 5pm when we made our way down the colourful umbrella covered streets, with the fancy shops, and arrived at the Außenalster - one of two man-made lakes in Hamburg. We walked around it, taking lots of photos obviously - taking another rest stop at Alex at Alasterpavillion, a huge bar cafe great for people watching and snacks.

At 6pm, till not hungry due to the aforementioned Schnitzel and at this point quite a way from our base, we decided to try and find a nice warm bar to sit in. It was surprisingly difficult, most places looked very restauranty, so we did a quick search and found Bar Oorlam which was about a 20 minute walk away, and I am so glad we did! Bar Oorlam is a Craft Beer bar, and we were met by the bartender Josh, an American speaking fluent German, and a customer intent on showing us a TikTok video of someone saying "Bottle of Water" in an accent he found hilarious. They had some guest beers from a local brewery on, and had a great variety, including some sours. The owner recommended one that "just soaks all of the fucking moisture out of your mouth, honestly" and that is so far up my Straße, I was delighted. We also sampled some Genever, which was lovely - and pairings were suggested to go with each of the beers we had. Josh recommended we go and see a painting in the Kunsthalle called Sea of Ice, as it was the inspiration for a sculpture in the harbour at Oslo. We spilled into the street promising we would definitely, definitely do that*, and went off in search of food. We found Otto's Burger, which was way too cool and hip for us - they asked how we wanted our burger done and it actually came out medium rare, as requested, which considering how busy they were and how used you get to that not being actually a thing, was pretty impressive. Great burgers, fantastic waffle fries and then we headed back home to bed. Step count for the entire day was 23, 866. 

 

*spoiler alert, we did not, in fact, make it to the Kunsthalle...